FIDE Grand Swiss: GM Divya Deshmukh Prioritizes Learning Over Wins in Samarkand

India Grand Master (GM) Divya Deshmukh says she won't mind losing all 11 games in the ongoing FIDE Grand Swiss tournament in Samarkand as long as she is learning.Divya was handed a defeat by her mentor Abhimanyu Puranik, who helped her win the FIDE Women’s World Cup, in the opening round. But the 19-year-old bounced back in style to hold Alexander Donchenko to a draw in round 2."Even if I lose all the rounds, I think I will be fine if I learn," she told ChessBase India."Every loss hurts a lot. When you play stronger players continuously, you learn so much even if you lose."You learn about yourself, you learn about what you should and should not do. For me, the result is not that important, more than what I take back from this tournament. This is definitely the strongest open tournament that I have played."I don’t want to say that I am used to getting beaten by these players,” she added.This is the third time this year that Divya is plying her trade in the open section, after Tata Steel Challengers and the Prague Challengers events."Today I never really felt that I was in any danger at any point,” Divya said in an interview with Take Take Take.“I’m motivated enough to play here since I have to fight with these players. Yesterday was a bit of a disappointing loss, because I thought I could have won.”